"Now, I have a gentleman friend visiting this evening and I don't want him getting the wrong idea about you, for your own safety as much as anything, so I will need to disguise you for a while" Elspeth explained cordially.
"Yes Mistress" James gulped. He already hated the sound of this. Hopefully there was a slim possibility she was referring to some kind of costume rather than a transformation.
"Now, I think a new pet would arouse far too much suspicion" Elspeth pondered aloud, confirming James' fears she was thinking along the latter lines "I think you will have to become an object for a while. Now I know inanimate transformations can be a little dull, and I have no choice but to leave you fully conscious for safety reasons, but it won't be for too long and you can rest assured that you will come to know harm.
"Can't I just hide upstairs Mistress?" James asked hopefully.
"Certainly not!" Elspeth responded more firmly than usual "who knows what trouble you could get yourself into up there without my supervision! "
"But..."
"Now keep quiet and stand still" Elspeth instructed as she waved her hands at James "This won't hurt a bit!"